tofubeats

Overview

tofubeats (real name Yūsuke Kawai, 河合 佑亮) is a Japanese singer, record producer, DJ and track maker born on 26 November 1990. He is known for building tracks from used CDs and records collected at second-hand shops such as Hard Off and Book Off, combined with computer-based production. Releasing music online, he achieved a great deal at a young age, including becoming the youngest-ever performer at WIRE. His video for "No. 1" featuring G.Rina was nominated for Best Dance Video at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan in 2014, and his album First Album was nominated for the Grand Prix at the 2015 CD Shop Awards.

Career

Born in Kobe, Hyogo, he was based there until moving to Tokyo in 2019. He began releasing music online as a junior high school student and started producing at 14 under the name "DJ Newtown", initially distributing tracks through sites such as 2channel and YouTube. One track was featured on imdkm's website, which led him to the netlabel Maltine Records, where he took part as dj newtown. After he sold his bootleg HIGH-SCHOOL OF REMIX to shops such as Village Vanguard, a major label's new-artist development division took notice.

He released 『水星』 (Mercury) in 2012. In 2013, Lost Decade reached No. 1 overall on the iTunes Store, and he signed with Warner Music Japan's sublabel Unborde, releasing Don't Stop the Music. The single "Don't Stop The Music feat. Chisato Moritaka" came from his collaboration with the singer, with whom he later performed on the TV programme LIVE MONSTER and at Summer Sonic 2014. He also proposed the autograph session that became Moritaka's first.

In 2013 he held the Lost Decade release party and in-store events at Tower Records Shinjuku and Shibuya. In 2014 he held release events for the EP ディスコの神様 and toured from 11 October to 13 December for First Album. His remix albums include Lost Decade Remixes (19 September 2013), First Album Remixes (28 January 2015), Positive Remixes (20 January 2016), Fantasy Club Remixes & Instrumentals (27 July 2018), RUN Remixes (4 September 2020) and Reflection Remixes (3 November 2022).

He appeared on NHK's MUSIC JAPAN in 2014 and the 2015 FNS Music Festival, and since April 2018 has been a monthly DJ on TBS Radio's After 6 Junction. In 2018 he also launched the label HIHATT. On 28 February 2016 he won BEST GROOVE ARTIST at the SPACE SHOWER MUSIC AWARDS. He announced his marriage on 31 May 2020 and served as ambassador for Record Day 2022. He has remixed artists including Nozomi Sasaki, YUKI and Momoiro Clover Z, and contributed to anime such as Classicaloid, the second season of Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club (the song "EMOTION") and the score for Seihantai na Kimi to Boku.

Musical style

He was strongly influenced by past J-POP bought at used CD shops, and listens closely to the second-hand CDs and records he collects as sampling sources to shape his compositions. His DTM-based approach joins club music with J-POP.